Blood gushed from Shadow's split torso. Heavy dripping sounds came as the crimson fluids hit the stone flooring of the entrance. Shadow had somehow moved out of his weapon form just in time. He had held his arms out from each side to shield Sonic. They went limp just before he collapsed.
Sonic watched his partner fall. "This can't be real," He thought.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sonic could tell that Eclipse was readying another strike. He kept looking down at his weapon, waiting for the final hit. The effects of the darkling's screams were subsiding, but he couldn't find the strength to react. Silence hung in the air for an eternity. Sonic hated the idea of facing his enemy. He knew the second he looked, the strike would come. After hearing Eclipse grunt, he finally looked despite his fear.
Eclipse was straining against an unseen force. His body shook as he tried bringing his weapon down on Sonic. Suddenly, the swordsman was lifted off of his feet and flung through the air back into the chapel. The heavy wooden doors of the entrance crashed open.
"Blaze?"
The princess of Sol stood in the cathedral's doorway holding a rapier sword with an ornate, guarded hilt.
"Sonic!" Silver's metallic voice came. "Are you okay?"
"Shadow's hurt!" He crouched down to check on his dying weapon. Seeing the blood soaking Shadow's clothes made his stomach sink. Sonic then felt Silver's wavelength move through the air around him to wrap around Shadow. The power took the form of a pale glow through Sonic's soul perception.
"I can hold the wound closed with kinesis for now. Let's make this quick, Blaze,"
"Gladly,"
The darkling laid still on the floor of the aisle, moving only to glance around with confusion.
"Someone threw me," Eclipse's body drifted back into a standing position without support from his arms as if he were being pulled by an invisible rope around his torso.
Blaze approached the darkling with her weapon pointed at him. Sonic did his best to regain his composure.
"His blood is his weapon. He can harden his veins to stop attacks and paralyze you with screams,"
Keeping her eyes on the monster in front of her, Blaze processed the information before making a move. "His screams won't work on me yet,"
"Oh no, a girl," Eclipse looked at the purple cat as if she were the real monster. "Girls are scary. What do I do with her?"
"Kill," the voice in Eclipse's mind returned.
The darkling giggled before trying to stab the terrifying girl. She lined her blade and moved it to block the attack. Additional attempts came from the darkling, but each strike was stopped by a series of precise parries. After many failed attacks, Eclipse's balance was wavering. His weapon got knocked aside, and Silver's blade stabbed perfectly into the middle of his torso. Creaking came from Eclipse's body when it stopped the weapon's journey prematurely.
"I told him you can't kill it like that!" Eclipse frowned.
"Fine then," Blaze placed her left hand on Silver's hilt to accompany her right.
A plume of fire erupted from Eclipse's chest just before he was launched deeper into the cathedral. Sonic blinked in disbelief.
"Owie!" Eclipse clutched his chest and writhed on the ground.
Blaze marched down the aisle to attack again. Eclipse yelped, then jumped off the ground once he saw her. The two traded blows further. Sonic watched in amazement. Death scythe and meister were fighting with their souls in a delicate harmony. Sonic could see that Eclipse was trying to send soul waves through his attacks to disrupt the resonance like he had done with Sonic and Shadow. The two swords collided, but instead of being cut, Silver's weapon form became cloaked in flames instead. Eclipse was the one he had to back away.
It didn't seem possible, but Blaze could manifest fire on her own. Sonic knew that resonating with Silver was increasing the strength of that ability. She was fighting defensively and waiting patiently for opportunities to attack with her burning soul wavelength. The desperation growing in Eclipse's attacks would be his undoing. Despite his ability to harden his black blood, he couldn't do much about the damage compounding from the fire. Sonic slowly let out a breath while he continued watching the fight.
So, this is what a death-scythe meister was capable of.
Blaze blocked Eclipse's next sword strike and guided it downward. Both blades were now locked in place, pointed at the ground. The princess placed her left hand on Eclipse's chest and fired another flaming burst. He fell back toward the entrance with a pained yell, crashed into a pew, then hit the ground.
"Ah!" Blaze tried to ready her weapon for a killing blow, but felt a sharp pain in her leg.
She looked down and saw a thin, black needle coming up from the ground and stabbing her left thigh. It had sprung up from a blot of black blood on the ground. That didn't make sense; her fire attacks were keeping her opponent from bleeding. Blaze quickly realized it must have been from one of Sonic's strikes before she'd arrived.
The darkling tried to seize on the sudden pause and end the fight. He felt a familiar sensation as his body froze in the air suddenly.
"Soul resonance!" Blaze and Silver shouted in unison.
The air shimmered. Sonic felt the cold room grow warm. Eclipse was pulled into the center of the aisle, held a few inches off the ground. Embers formed around Blaze and glowed brightly. The needle of metal blood became liquid again.
"Burning rush!"
Blaze launched up the aisle with her sword pointed straight ahead. Fire engulfed Silver's blade before it arrived at its destination. The strike landed at Eclipse's chest, aimed to pierce his heart. His hardened veins groaned as they withstood the blow. An explosion erupted out of the wound immediately after. Eclipse flew across the room and over Sonic's head. The darkling bounced down the stairs of the entrance and landed in the courtyard. His blood sword had melted along the way. Black blood droplets floated in the air.
Eclipse watched his opponent emerge. The blood droplets moved to surround her when she reached the steps.
"Bloody needle!"
The black orbs became sharp points that reached out to stab the princess. A cloak of fire emerged to form a shield around her. Each of the makeshift needles liquified. One last fireball slammed into Eclipse and he rolled along the ground. His body began to tremble and stiffen. Needles of blood began stabbing his body from the inside out. Some of them stuck into the ground and lifted the darkling who was screaming out in pain.
"His resonance is failing," Blaze observed coldly.
"He can't resonate with his own blood?" There was pity in Silver's voice.
Tikal looked down at the courtyard with distaste. "Seems like Eclipse isn't enough to stop a death scythe yet. Oh well," She drifted downward a short distance and held out her hand. "Soul-protect, release,'
Chills ran through Sonic's body. Shuddering, the meister looked around frantically for the source. It was coming from the sky outside. He didn't want to leave Shadow, but he needed a better view of the courtyard. It's not like he could do anything for his partner anyway. Stepping out of the entrance and looking up at the sky, he gasped at what he saw with his soul perception.
A dark wavelength was pouring out into the sky. Magical energy flowed through the air, distorting the already miniscule amount of light provided by fixtures on the outside of the cathedral. Sonic could see a cloaked woman floating on a broomstick at the center of all the distortion. The sky seemed to settle and her soul became clear. It looked like a massive orb that surrounded her body through Sonic's soul perception. He had no response to the sheer power he saw before him, other than to feel hopeless.
A witch had arrived.
"What's the princess of Sol doing so far from home?" Tikal was fully cloaked now, hiding in the darkness. Her voice was distorted as well.
Blaze didn't respond. The witch concentrated her magical energy and sent out dozens of tendrils that were pointed with arrowheads.
"Chaos arrows!"
Blaze and Silver began resonating once again. She brought the sword in front of her and filled it with her burning soul wavelength. The weapon was then aimed up at the incoming attack.
"Burn the witch!"
One massive fireball exploded out of Silver's weapon form. It was being orbited by two smaller orbs of flame. All of the chaos arrows in the air burned away. When the fiery attack neared the witch, it lit up the sky with a thunderous explosion.
Smoke filled the night sky, and the princess noticed that the demon swordsman she'd defeated was gone. The attack had been a diversion for the witch to retrieve Eclipse using additional pointed tendrils. Eclipse was pulled off the ground as the witch flew out of the smoke and away from the cathedral. Blaze watched the unknown enemy disappearing into the night with her creation. She frowned; her grip tightened.
"We need to help Sonic and Shadow," Silver broke the silence.
His meister didn't look away from the sky.
"Yes, of course,"
